The Hon. Mr. Santiago Velo de Antelo de Antelo, Executive President of the Diplomatic Academy of the Kingdom of Spain, is inducted as Honorary Academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors, with the address “La Diplomacia como práctica integral de Política Exterior y Relaciones Internacionales. La Academia de la Diplomacia” (Diplomacy as a comprehensive practice of Foreign Policy and International Relations. The Diplomatic Academy).

Response by: The Hon. Dr. Alfredo Rocafort Nicolau, PhD in Economics and Law

Círculo Ecuestre Auditorium. C. Balmes, 169 bis, Barcelona

Friday, 26 June 2026

18:30 h.

Format: In-person

Registration: Please confirm attendance with the Secretariat: secretaria@raed.academy or by phone at +34 93 667 40 54

Diplomacy as a comprehensive practice of Foreign Policy and International Relations. The Diplomatic Academy

The Royal European Academy of Doctors hosts in Barcelona an induction ceremony whose guiding thread is the evolution of the concept of diplomacy and the growing role of civil society in international relations. Barcelona, chosen as the setting not by chance, presents itself as a historic symbol of openness toward Europe and the Mediterranean.

A wide-ranging reflection on the transition from the classical conception of diplomacy —understood as an exclusive instrument of the sovereign State— toward the contemporary paradigm of a comprehensive diplomacy, in which companies, universities, academies, cultural movements and military institutions play an increasingly substantive and recognized role.

As a historical reference of that tradition of silent and effective diplomacy, the address revisits the figure of the Consolat de Mar of Barcelona, founded in the 14th century: a forerunner of a diplomacy grounded in shared law and mercantile trust, whose relevance remains a valid benchmark in a world once again tending toward fragmentation.

Particular attention is given to the figure of the honorary consul as the human and direct face of diplomacy: the first point of support for the fellow citizen in difficulty and a natural facilitator for the entrepreneur seeking to expand horizons, embodying the organic integration of civil society into the architecture of international relations.

Within this framework, the mission and trajectory of the Diplomatic Academy are presented. Founded in 1996, the institution opened its doors to civil society in 2014. Alongside Spanish and foreign career ambassadors and diplomats, it today includes figures from the military, legal, academic, cultural and economic spheres with international standing. Its members include former Ministers of Foreign Affairs —Abel Matutes, José Manuel García-Margallo, Miguel Ángel Moratinos and Josep Piqué—, diplomatic representatives from more than twenty countries, and the Honorary Presidency of His Royal Highness Don Pedro de Borbón Dos Sicilias, Duke of Calabria.

The institution’s intense activity encompasses sectoral forums with military attachés and Defence authorities; public diplomacy initiatives such as the exhibition Fútbol por la Paz in partnership with LaLiga; conferences on the environment, disability and the role of women in diplomacy; the Pan-Iberianism and Iberophony proposal for the articulation of the multinational space of the Spanish and Portuguese languages; and prestigious distinctions such as the Ambassador of Hispanidad Award, the Isabel of Castile Award and the José María Velo de Antelo Award, granted in previous editions to President Lech Wałęsa, King Simeon II of Bulgaria, the imperial family of Habsburg-Lorraine and, posthumously, to Pope Benedict XVI. Within the framework of this ceremony, the Award for Solidarity through Patronage is conferred on the family of the Counts of Güell, on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí.

A shared commitment to intellectual rigour, to dialogue as the prevailing tool in foreign relations, and to the conviction that knowledge must continue to be that «open sea on which we may all sail».